'76 is a slightly unusual book.  It's an eight-issue miniseries with two stories by different creative teams - "Jackie Karma" by B Clay Moore and Ed Tadem, and "Cool" by Seth Perk and Tigh Walker.  The common theme is that, as the title suggests, they're both set in 1976.

According to interviews, this didn't originate as a high concept project.  It's simply a case of two writers independently having ideas set in the mid-seventies and deciding to do a split book instead of competing with each other.  Obviously, the effect is to play up the time period as the linking theme.

Now, there are really two versions of the mid-seventies.  There's the real mid-seventies, the historical period.  And then there's the fictional mid-seventies, a sort of well-established setting for the stories influenced by seventies B-movies.  If you're reading this - and if you're reading '76 - then chances are your idea of the seventies is probably closer to the latter.

And indeed, that's the way the book comes across.  The inside front cover has a list of historical facts about the seventies, and the centre spread is a list of sports results, but the actual stories haven't got much to do with any of this.  "Jackie Karma" is a story about a lawyer who used to be a kung fu vigilante, coming out of retirement when his past catches up with him.  It's set in the seventies because that's when the martial arts craze was at its peak.  Although I can't help thinking, shouldn't it be set later?  Wouldn't it make more sense, aesthetically, if Jackie's heyday was the mid-seventies and his comeback was somewhere into the Reagan era?

"Cool" is a Tarantino-esque story about wisecracking bail bondsmen being sent on the trail of a girl who has allegedly ended up with the money and the drugs after a deal gone wrong.  I say "allegedly" for a reason, although I can't quite make up my mind whether this is an example of subtle plotting that leaves the readers to figure it out for themselves, or just a gaping plot hole.  I'm leaning heavily towards it being intentional, but I'm not absolutely sure. 

Frankly, there's no terribly obvious reason for setting this story in the seventies at all, other than the amusing surface.  There's no reason why it shouldn't be the seventies, of course.  But if you're expecting a series which is actually about 1976 in any way... well, er, no, not really.

Still, if you're into these particular B-movie genres, both stories are sound efforts.  "Jackie Karma" has the deadpan absurdity you'd expect from a seventies martial arts story, and artist Ed Tadem makes the most of the period with some impressive black and white art.  "Cool" isn't quite so visually distinctive, but it's still well told, and bounces through its admittedly familiar set-up with energy.  Both are fun stories, and perhaps the only problem with this series is that it implies it's got more to say about 1976 than it actually has. 

The setting is neither a theme nor a gimmick, so much as a coincidence.  But take the stories on their own terms, and this is quite entertaining.

Rating: A-

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